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A lot of people just use hot water in a sink. This has worked well for me. Another method is to use a hair dryer or heat gun. Just make sure you don't get the sentra too hot or it will buble up or burn. Try the hot water method first and if that doesn't work for you, put some gloves on and try the other method. Good luck!

It seems to me, from what I can gather from this board, that Sintra is the best material to make Fett armor from. Where might one obtain Sintra on the Internet? I live in a spot where there isn't a sign shop for atleast a 50 mile radius. Thanks.

I would think even if you found a place on the Internet that shipping would be outrageous on a 4' X 8' piece. I guess you could have it pre-cut but there is almost always a surcharge if they cut it so I don't think that would help offset the shipping cost. I would recommend going to a hardware store or some kind of manufacturing shop in town and see if they can order it for you. If it is not easily accessible, it might be just as cheap to buy some preformed armor off of someone as well.....Good luck!

darthtater2 wrote:It seems to me, from what I can gather from this board, that Sintra is the best material to make Fett armor from.

I wouldn't say it is the BEST, but it is definately the EASIEST and probably the most cost effective way to go. What's the best? Aluminum and fiberglass (IMO), neither of which are easy to work with nor cost effective, but man do they make for some awesome armor.

I used sheet steel, I got it from Menards thick enough that it would not bend unless you hit it with a hammer. I was able to cut it with a jig saw that had a metal cutting bit. Why steel, well I wanted to solder snaps onto it and I thought I coulden't solder onto aluminum.....so I used steel. I coulden't leave it flat so I pounded out the pectoral pieces a little to round them out. I have plenty of tools (jig saws, files, bench grinder, drill press, propane torches, ball peen hammers....) so using steel wasn't a struggle. But from what I have seen on the board Sintra works well. It is easy to work with, you could cut out pretty much all your armor in a few days, and if you mess up.... you can start over without having spent too much time on the first attempt.

They have Sintra in 1mm, 2mm, 3mm, 4mm, 5mm, 6mm, 10mm, 13mm, & 19mm thicknesses, in varying colors. I bought several sheets of light gray 3mm Sintra for my armor, then 2mm white Sintra for some of my "accessories".

For reference, a 12" X 12" sheet of 3mm light gray Sintra is around $1.17. I found out on checkout that if you want a sheet over 30" X 30", your shipping is astronomical, so try to stay at 30" X 30" or LESS for each sheet. Also, they charge $30.00 per ORDER to cut Sintra to size.

It seems like a lot, but the Sintra is REALLY inexpensive, and so is the shipping. They're in Chicago, and I got my order in 3 days. I ended up with eight 12" X 12" sheets of light gray 3mm Sintra, one 30" X 30" sheet of white 2mm Sintra, one 18" X 18" sheet of light gray 3mm Sintra, and one 24" X 24" sheet of light gray 3mm Sintra, plus shipping AND the $30.00 cutting fee for about $50.00. I'll have enough left over to use for other costumes.

It all depends on your size and your experience cutting Sintra with a Dremel cut-off wheel (tin snips and other cutters cause the Sintra to shatter and break. The Dremel melts/cuts right through it). I was able to cut all 4 of the chest pieces out of one 18" X 18" sheet of 3mm Sintra. Persons larger than myself might require, say, a 24" X 24" sheet, to cut the pieces out of.

The easiest way to approximate is to draw out patterns for every piece of armor that you want to make out of Sintra, add their sizes up, and buy your Sintra accordingly. I believe I can get 2 knee armor pieces out of one sheet of 12" X 12" Sintra. I also cut both of my shoulder bells out of one 12" X 12" sheet. If you cut wisely, it goes a long way. I figured that since I was paying the $30 fee, I'd go ahead and get enough to last me awhile. It was definitely worth it!

Are you guys vacuforming the armor or just cuting the sentra and bending it to shape? I have a sheet of it in my garage that I need to use one way or the other. I don't really want to set up for vacuforming for a one time shot. I was thinking about doing my Jango Armor with it, it seams that the edges of his armor looked flat unlike Boba's which are rounded off. Does that sound right?

I've been cutting mine with a fiberglass-reinforced Dremel cut-off wheel, sanding/rounding-off the edges with a Dremel sanding drum, then forming it with a Wagner paint stripper/heat gun and cold water out of the faucet in my kitchen sink. It's incredibly easy to shape, even in the 3mm thickness that I use. 1mm and 2mm is VERY thin. You might be able to vacuform 1mm, but I've never tried it...

When I get a chance, I'll post a pic of one of my shoulder bells that I completed over the weekend.

Well,Here we go
I bought A .080 guage 4'x8' for 50 bucks,they were very nice
and cut it into two 4'x4'sheets.I live in the detroit area and
went to AIN plastics.I then used A jig saw for the cuts and
fine tunned with A dremmel.I then used A propane torch to heat
and bend.As far as the corners go I used the dremmel to sand
off the back so the sides of the armor were not as thick as
the middle.It gives A nice illusion that the armor is not that
thick.But if you were to knock on te armor it appears thick
and sturdy.I have bought several sets of vaccume formed and I
have to say I like the do it yourself method much better.And
with putting in the dents and rips in the armor it is great.
My armor is damn close to the M.O.M.

Well, at least it sounds easy! I have seen some incredible jango gauntlets and knee armor made from sintra. How easy is it to shape into some accurate armor? I consider myself to be quite artistic not to toot my own horn but I just don't know if this is going to be as easy as it sounds, having never worked with sintra before what are my chances of making some good looking armor? I see that it is much cheaper than purchasing a set but in the long run might I end up going through a couple of sheets to get it right?
Thanks for the help.........